The past resurfaces leading to changes for Team Equalizer.

McCall’s CIA ties manifest once more as Carter Griffin and the Company call upon her services to aid with a high-value escort mission. The subject of their protection would not initially appear out of place in The Big Lebowski. However all is not what it seems as the mission grows increasingly dangerous, and matters escalate when the mission target finds himself threatened by the presence of a powerful criminal organization.

A key aspect of the episode is that several of the regular characters find themselves haunted by the past. McCall retains guilt over the fate of her former friend and CIA contact Bishop, who remains in spirit throughout; shared experiences of Kandahar are referenced again and it is Melody this time who herself lives with regrets. Delilah, having been refused training by her mother, turns to Melody and Melody’s own demons give her a lot more pause for accepting Dee’s request than she might otherwise have entertained. Melody tells Harry that she experienced loss in her time serving the Company as she feels responsible for the deaths of a few she considers herself to have trained inadequately.

Although there is a certain implication voiced each time, there remains an interestingly vague definition of the extent of Dee’s ‘training’. Although basic self-defence would seem relatively logical and safe as an option for her, the implication of training lethal force is present, including perhaps the firearms training viewers know that Aunt Vi has turned to.

Perhaps the most immediate manifestation of the past tormenting the present centres around Dante’s tale. Having been reminded of his ordeal at the hands of corrupt cops, a visit to his father, ‘Big Ben’, provides another twist in that Ben is coming to the end of his own sentence for breaking the rules, doubly problematic given his own previous status as a police officer. With Dante originally the cleanest cop in the force, though notably not as tied to the letter of the law when it comes to matters involving McCall, Tory Kittles portrays him at his most vulnerable. Ben’s only request of his son is to be acknowledged as the grandfather of Dante’s sons, despite Dante having excluded access to them for their own protection.

We see echoes of Ben’s hard lessons to his son handed down in a better filtered version by Dante to his own boys. He maintains the best of them, and whilst doing so provides the viewer with evidence that Ben is not evil incarnate, regardless of Dante’s understandable issues with his father. The determination to avoid making the mistakes he did keep him on a path of honour and integrity, everything he believes service as a police officer should be. Taking Dante’s own soul-searching through his temporary hiatus from the job the previous season, it leaves him at a different crossroads to the one he found himself at then. To give his father a second chance and let him into the lives of his sons is a tough decision he finds himself unable to handle alone and his close bond to McCall only strengthens as he makes his choice.

The episode is laden with huge decisions, revelations and consequences, one of which is a considerable betrayal for McCall (although arguably given the casting the audience might arguably have seen this coming). However it leaves us with a new recurring character in Colton Fisk, the very recognisable Donal Logue, and it seems a different relationship with the CIA for McCall once more.

Verdict: Perhaps the strongest episode of the season thus far, this instalment leaves something of a minefield for McCall and the team, which will need to be carefully negotiated. 9/10

Russell A. Smith